The following is the opening from my column in today’s Waterloo Region Record. You can find the full article here.
“Schooling for on-reserve students in Ontario is at its best inadequate and at its worst a tragedy.
Many First Nations schools lack science labs, libraries, or computers. Sometimes there isn’t a school at all. By now most have heard of the housing crisis in Attawapiskat, but fewer have heard about that Northern Ontario community’s long struggle for an elementary school.
A decades-long fuel leak under the elementary school went unattended to until the school was finally condemned in 2000. Some temporary portables were put up — temporary until a new school was built. A dozen years later, students are still in these cramped and shoddy portables, campaigning passionately for what most Canadian kids take for granted — a school.”
February 26, 2012 at 12:56 am
So Mr NDP wannabe,
When natives start paying taxes and their way in this country,maybe they can get a share of tax dollars the rest of us have to pay.How long of a free ride do you think they should get?
February 26, 2012 at 11:41 am
Hi there,
While I will get to where we disagree, I first want to thank you for leaving a comment and giving some thought to the issue. At their heart disagreements are good, as they show that people care.
Now, to respond to your comment. First, I have to disagree with the ‘wannabe’ statement. I am an NDP member and therefore I don’t know if I can be called a ‘wannabe’. Still, it’s important to point out that I’m not a current candidate and my editorial was my own personal opinion, not specific party policy.
As far as your comment about “when natives start paying taxes”, I get the feeling that you may benefit from some clarification on how the tax exemptions work, as they may surprise you, and you may be surprised to find that most Aboriginal people in Canada pay full taxation levels and many Status, on-reserve people pay some or all taxation levels. This post may help there: http://apihtawikosisan.com/?p=421
Still, I don’t think the issue is really about the level of taxation but more a point on how our society should be run. Should it be run for the benefit of all or the benefit of some? A question to you would be: should a child have unequal access to education because of historical and legal tax policy? Should a child have unequal access to education because their parents don’t pay as much tax as others? This question could apply to Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal: should a child whose parents are taxed on $10000 or $100000 have an equal shot at a decent education?
There are plenty of historical reasons for our ‘unfair’ tax system. Churches don’t pay tax. Neither do non-profit organizations. Some people pay more tax than others for a variety of reasons. Each of these can be debated but many of our taxes are ‘unfair’ for a reason – we try to create a progressive taxation system so that a measure of equality and universal opportunity is built into our system. This progressive tax system which led to the prosperous and well respected Canada we once knew has been withered away due to a very dangerous, individualistic view on taxation.
So instead of viewing taxation as being about whether a level of taxation is ‘fair’, it should instead be about whether we are creating a more fair, equal society, which may mean applying resources in one area where revenues are lower, because it creates a more fair system which is better for our society overall.
If your point is that people who pay fewer dollars in tax should have more limited access to government services like health and education, then in that case, we are going to have to disagree. From my perspective it’s less about where the dollars come from and more about how we can spend them effectively for the good of society as a whole. But I do thank you for your comment.